Moshe Bogie Yaalon

Suspected of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

Indictment outline:

On 18th April 1996, IDF troops fired 38 artillery shells measuring 155 mm at the UN compound in the village of Qana, Lebanon where 800 refugees were sheltering. They had fled their homes due to Operation Grapes of Wrath. The IDF attack was in response to Hezbollah fighters launching rockets at IDF forces from a place a few hundred meters from the compound. The IDF shelling killed 106 people and left dozens of survivors injured. During this time, the suspect was head of Israeli army intelligence, and together with others, was responsible for the shelling. Firing at a compound where civilians are sheltering from fighting is considered a war crime under international law.

On 22 July 2002, as head of the Israeli army, the suspect ordered a one-ton bomb to be dropped on a house in Rafah, Gaza, in order to assassinate Salah Shehadeh. The bomb caused the deaths of 15 people including 9 children, and injured dozens more. Bombing neighborhoods where civilians live is forbidden under international law and is considered to be a war crime.

In November 2005, relatives of those killed in Kafr Qana filed a civil law suit against the suspect in a Washington DC court. The suspect was handed a subpoena whilst he was visiting Washington, but he refused to take it and left quickly after.

In December 2006, while the suspect was making a private visit to New Zealand, a lawsuit was submitted to a New Zealand court, regarding the suspect’s part in the assassination of Shehadeh. An Aukland district judge ordered his arrest. Pressure was however placed on the Attorney General by the Ministry of Justice to cancel the warrant.

In July 2008, the suspect’s name was included in a list submitted to a Spanish court for investigations into war crimes. The court has issued a warrant for his arrest. Spain has an extradition agreement with all the countries in the European Union.

Description of the suspect: a white man, about 60, large build, above average height, brown hair, wearing glasses.